


Our Last Days As Children

by gayerthanjew



Category: Women's Soccer RPF
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-09-24
Updated: 2015-09-24
Packaged: 2018-04-23 04:18:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,644
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4862840
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayerthanjew/pseuds/gayerthanjew
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Hope and Carli are being teased by their teammates that they should date. They both insist they are just friends, but when that defense doesn't work, they decide to go on a fake date to get their friends off their backs. But their fake date ends up feeling a bit more real than they planned.</p><p>A/N: Set sometime currently, but ignores the fact that Hope has a husband and Carli is engaged. Obviously the people are real but the events are not. Sadly. Title borrowed from an Explosions In The Sky song. Shaking off the writing rust, so please pardon me if it's shite.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Our Last Days As Children

“So are you guys finally sharing the same bed this trip or still doing that whole 1950's TV routine?” Kelley asked with a smirk as she fell in step next to Hope walking onto the field.

Hope couldn't help but look over at Carli who had just peeled away from her to join her training group for the morning.

“You're very funny, Kel,” Hope smiled back, rolling her eyes. She kept walking towards the goal, adjusting the bag on her shoulder.

Sydney trotted up next to them. “Oh ladies, what's the gossip, hmm?” She had that conspiring look in her eye as she glanced at Kelley, telling Hope she already knew exactly what Kelley was teasing her about.

“Hope won't kiss and tell!” Kelley put on a pout and Hope poked a finger into her ribs.

“Will you guys cut it out? Carli and I are friends. And both straight, okay?” She didn't miss the looks Syd and Kelley exchanged.

The whistle blew signaling the start of practice, saving Hope from any more jokes. Kelley poked her back in the ribs once before she and Syd jogged to their groups. Hope dropped her bag next to the goal and turned her attention to the practice ahead of her.

  


* * *

   


After practice Syd made a beeline towards the goal where Hope was taking off her gloves. The goalkeeper saw her approaching and shook her head slightly, an exasperated look on her face.

“Chill number 1, I come in peace,” Syd smiled and raised her hands to show she meant no harm. “O'Hara will bug you enough for the two of us later I'm sure.”

Hope smiled and tossed her gloves down before picking up a water bottle. This wasn't anything new to her. Honestly out of all the teasing she'd faced in her life, Kelley and Sydney's jokes were welcome. But sometimes she did wish they'd just drop it. She and Carli were best friends, nothing more. And they were both straight!

“But Hope, like, on the real, you and Carli should just date already. You basically are, except neither of you are getting laid out of it which is a tragedy.”

“Syd, how many times do I have to tell you we're just friends? I appreciate you wanting me to get laid, but I can do that without Carli's help.” Hope picked up her bag and started walking back towards the bus.

“But you guys are so dang cute!” Syd put on a silly, cutesy voice and wrapped an arm around Hope's shoulder as they walked.

“Cute friends, crazy concept, right?”

Sydney sighed, giving her friend and teammate a little squeeze with the arm she had draped over her shoulder. “If you say so Solo.”

  


* * *

  


Syd didn't lie when she said Kelley would keep at Hope enough for the two of them. At dinner in the hotel that night, Kelley sidled up to Hope in the buffet line.

“Don't start Kel,” Hope implored before Kelley could even say anything, her eyes darting up to their surrounding teammates in line.

“Whoa whoa, sounding a little defensive there, huh?” Kelley grinned. “Don't worry, Carli's already sitting down, looks like she saved a seat for you,”

Hope didn't look back to see if it was true or not. Usually the team just left a seat open next to Carli because they knew she and Hope always sat together. _Like friends_ , Hope wanted to remind Kelley, but held it in.

“What do I have to do to convince you we're just friends and going to stay that way, huh?” Hope asked in a low voice, dishing herself some food.

“Go on a date! If it doesn't work, then I'll leave you alone. Maybe.”

“C'mon Kelley be real here, I'm not going to ask Carli out on a date! That's...that's ridiculous.”

They had reached the end of the buffet and Hope didn't want to linger or risk anyone else hearing how ridiculous her friend was being. Kelley saw this and put a hand on her shoulder, still smiling her smart-ass smile.

“I'm just saying, don't knock it till you've tried it. Well, tried it with Carli. I know you had that one instance with some French girl.”

Hope shook her head. “I swear to God Kel you are unreal,” she said while fighting a smile.

Kelley turned to go get back in line and actually pick up something to eat for herself. “But you love me!”

  


* * *

  


“Okay Lloyd, what's the deal with you and Hope?” Meghan and Morgan sat down next to Carli at dinner. Carli had been one of the first ones into the dining room and the table was empty. Her teammates both sat down on her left side, leaving the seat on her right open.

Carli looked at them with a questioning look. “What do you mean?”

“Like...” Meghan looked as if she was trying to find the right words.

“Like you guys are super cute and you should date,” Morgan took the more direct route.

Carli stared at them for a second, wondering if they were joking. When she decided that they were being serious, she laughed.

“We're friends, and we're both straight. I think you guys got dehydrated during practice today.” She chuckled and took another bite of her dinner.

“Oh come on Carli, you guys are like a married couple, without the sex. Or maybe that is like a married couple?” Morgan laughed at her own joke and Meghan gave her a high five.

“Alright there Abbot and Costello, you guys are really being ridiculous right now.”

“Please, Hope's totally crazy about you,” Morgan said like it was common knowledge.

“Yeah, and doesn't she use a little reading light when you guys room together because you're a grandma and go to sleep early? That's super adorable,” Meghan chimed in.

Carli shook her head, chuckling again at her teammates. “You mean super considerate? She's a good roommate, it's not romantic. Honestly I think you guys need to get some more water, the sun messed with your brains today.” She could feel her cheeks flush, unused to this particular brand of attention.

Other members of the team had started to file in, including Hope, and Meghan and Morgan took that as their cue to hurry over to the buffet. Before she left Morgan leaned over to Carli and in a quieter, sing-song voice said “Just think about it?”

  


* * *

  


After dinner the team was going to watch some film before they called it a night but there was problem with the projector. The team was milling around in the hallway outside the conference room in the hotel as they waited for things to get sorted. Hope was talking with Ashlyn and Alyssa when she caught sight of something that made her cheeks unwillingly flush red.

Kelley had caught her eye and then motioned towards Carli and then made a little thrusting motion with her pelvis. Sydney laughed but chided Kelley, pulling her back from the movements. Hope trailed off mid-sentence, deciding she would put an end to her friend's childish antics.

“Sorry guys, one sec,” She said to Alyssa and Ashlyn. She brushed past them and walked directly towards Carli. It felt like everyone was watching her. Whether they actually were or not, Hope didn't stop to check.

Carli was talking to Ali when Hope approached her. “Sorry Ali, can I steal her for a minute?”

Hope didn't wait for her response, and pulled Carli a few feet away from the others.

“Hope what's wrong?” Carli asked, concern written across her face.

“Okay, just bear with me here – will you go on a fake date with me?”

Carli cocked her head, her mind flashing back to the conversation at dinner.

“I know that sounded ridiculous, but what's even more ridiculous is Kelley and Syd...” She trailed off, not wanting to go into the full detail of their jokes. “Whatever, they're just teasing me, but they got under my skin,”

“Wait, teasing you about what?” Carli frowned, not liking the sound of teammates giving Hope a hard time.

“About us, dating, or whatever. It's so silly, but they have been on my case about it so much and I just need to shut them up! So I thought, maybe if we went on a fake date to show that we at least tried it, and it didn't work obviously, they'd give it a rest.”

Carli was staring at Hope with a confused look on her face and Hope wondered if she'd made a mistake.

“You know what, now that I say it out loud, a fake date sounds even more ridiculous. Forget it. I think I'm just overtired.”

“No, wait, hang on.” Hope had started to turn to leave but Carli put her hand on Hope's forearm to keep her there. She thought again about Meghan and Morgan's prodding at dinner.

“I also had some people mention it to me, weirdly enough. So, I'm game. We have the night off tomorrow, right? Let's make a fake date of it.”

“Really?” Hope smiled, relieved that Carli was on board with the plan.

“Yeah, if it's what it takes to get people off our cases, I'm down. We all should be focusing on training anyway, and I don't want any extra distractions.”

Hope couldn't help but smile at her friend's work ethic. Tomorrow night they'd go out for dinner like any other night off, but under the guise of a “date”. She'd tell Kelley and Syd all about it and they could move on to teasing her about other things.

One of the coaches called everybody into the room where the projector was now up and running. Hope caught Kelley's eye again, and it was clear Kelley had seen her talking with Carli. Her teammate gave her a coy wink and thumbs up before going to find a seat.


End file.
